I Never Run Out of Mana - Chapter 114

Chapter 114

114 . A + X = New World

I informed the commander and Ho Jin the information that I obtained from the goblin Karin .

It was because the commander had requested me to share information with him before .

That was one of the reasons why I visited .

The other reason was that I needed help from them .

It was possible to do it alone, but it would take a long time if I did so .

I asked the two that were sitting in front of me .

“This was what I wanted to let you two know of first . I wasn’t able to obtain information about the monsters or their weaknesses, but it’s still better than nothing . ”

“Hm… . Thank you . It’s something at least . So they’re extremely strong . ”

“Yes . It seems it won’t be an easy fight . ”

“We’ll have to be fully prepared… . . ”

“Thank you, Mr . Min-Cheol . But what about that favor you wanted to ask of us? What would that be?”

“Ah . I wanted to learn about the location of a hidden portal . ”

“The location of a portal?”

“Yes . The level 34 portal dungeon in Paju that you informed me of isn’t useful anymore . ”

“Ahem! Ahem ahem!”

At my words, Ho Jin looked at the commander .

The portals were spread throughout the entire nation .

Out of those, not many were higher than level 30 .

The locations of those portals seemed to be treated as classified information in the association .

It appeared as though that he didn’t report to the commander about informing me such locations yet .

However, the commander smiled as if he had expected this ahead of time .

“Do you now understand now why my mood lightened when our lad Min-Cheol entered, HoJin?”

“Hohoho . My apologies . I forgot to let you know… . ”

“Ah… . . Seems I spoke out of turn . ”

“Hoho . You probably knew it already, right commander?”

“I had my suspicions with the master ID disappearing from time to time . It’s not an issue . You made the right decision . ”

“That’s right, hoho . Then… . ”

“My lad Min-Cheol . Tell me . What is the portal level that you wish to know the location of?”

“Hm… . 40? Since the year has passed, isn’t there a level 41 portal now?”

“Since it hasn’t been the date of the first portal’s appearance, the portal ring wouldn’t have increased by one yet . Almost as if there needs to be a birthday or something, the portal level won’t rise until exactly 365 days have passed . You’ll need the location of a level 40 portal then . ”

“Yes . I’ll be counting on you for the locations of portals in the range of level 38 to 40 please . ”

“But Mr . Min-Cheol . As you told me before, I thought you don’t gain much from leveling? It would be better for you to obtain skills instead… . . ”

“Hm… . He probably wants to obtain artifacts . ”

“Yes, that’s right . I’m asking in order to obtain artifacts from hidden bosses of the dungeons . ”

“Oho… . If that’s the case, there isn’t much time to spare . ”

“Yes . Since I have no idea which of the dungeons a hidden boss would appear in, I’ll have to invest a ton of time in order to find out . ”

“All right . ”

The commander immediately picked up the phone on the table . It seemed as if he wouldn’t even sleep in order to give every bit of his time to support me .

“Yes, commander . ”

“Thank you for your hard work . I appreciate you working still even in these late hours, secretary Kim . Could you have department head of strategy An report in here?”

“Understood, commander . Is there anything else you need?”

“Please request permission to open x classified files from him . We need to do so here, right now . ”

“Yes, I shall call him to let him know . ”

“I thought you knew about all the locations of the dungeons?”

“Hohoho . I just know the general gist of them . There’s someone else that takes care of that . ”

“Aha… . . ”

“Did you inform our lad here without asking permission from the department head of strategy?”

“Hoho . There was no point of having more people guilty of something that I came up with, commander . ”

“Ho! Ho! Ho! That makes sense . Is Jeong-yeon doing well?” 1

Just like that, until the man that the commander summoned arrived, they seemed to carry on a normal conversation .

It was peaceful, almost as if they had forgotten about the looming threat of the demonic realm and the monsters .

A brief moment passed .

“Commander, the department head of strategies An Ho Yeong has arrived . ”

“Okay . Please bring him in . ”

“Yes . ”

The secretary moved back to reveal a man that was standing behind her .

The department head of strategies bowed his head in a 90 degrees towards the commander to greet him .

He seemed rather young to be a department head .

He didn’t wear a suit, but instead had casual blue jeans and a hoodie that made him look unprofessional .

Lumbering towards us, he sat next to me and spoke .

“Apologies for being late . ”

“Nothing to worry about . I should be the one apologizing, since I’m holding such an energetic youngster late into the night for work . ”

“No, no . But… . is this person… . . Perhaps! A?”

“A?”

“You catch on fast . Please introduce yourself . This is the one I spoke of before, A . Also known as Kim Min-Cheol . ”

“It’s an honor to meet you! My name is An Ho Yeong!”

“Yes, glad to meet you . I’m Kim Min-Cheol . Wait, am I A?”

“Hohoho . I shall explain that later . ”

“Sure… . . It feels like I’m in a viral video going around the internet or something . Feels strange . ”

“Hohoho!”

“That’s right . Department head An, did you bring the files?”

“Yes, commander . ”

Instead of a suitcase, he brought out the files from a backpack .

It was in a thick sealed envelope . I was able to notice instantly that the envelope was made of nanomaterials .

Ho Yeong took the envelope off the table to rip it open and spread out the files .

He said that these files could only be accessed only with the permission from more than two department heads and the president of the association .

“Here it is . ”

“Thanks . ”

“But department head Kim . You kept on coming over to take peeks at this document in secret, but now you’re able to do it guilt free . ”

“Hohoho . That’s right . To think that a day where I would be looking at them in the open like this would come though…”

“Commander . Mr . Min-Cheol is here at the association, and you’ve requested for the x classified files… . What can I help you with?”

“Our man here is looking for portals in the ranges of level 38 to 40 . ”

“Oho… . Portals in those ranges?”

“That’s right . If possible, it would be best to pick from the closest ones to us…… . ”

“The closest portals . ”

“That’ right . ”

“…… . ”

As if excited, Ho Yeong pulled out a highlighter the moment the commander finished talking .

He moved in a frenzy with his highlighter over the coating paper .

Unlike his simple appearance, he was showing an incredible amount of focus towards his work .

It made me realize that he didn’t just hold this position for show .

After 3 minutes of frenzied highlighting, he closed the cap of his highlighter and gave a satisifed smile .

“Is it done?”

“Yes . It’s all done . ”

He pointed towards a location with his index finger with confidence .

Everyone’s gaze focused in on where his finger pointed towards .

Ho Yeong opened his mouth .

“Here . ”

“Oho . The locations forms almost an equilateral triangle . ”

“Yes . They are roughly 1 to 2 km apart from each other . ”

“Yeah… With your kind of stride, it shouldn’t take long for you to cover that distance, Min-Cheol . ”

“Yes, if there are no hindrances along the way . But is there a specific reason why you picked the closest ones… . ”

“It’s to increase the chances . ”

“Huh?”

“You could run 3 different dungeons in a certain set period of time . Taking into account the remaining days, you would most likely spend 25 days for each dungeon . ”

“Yes… . That was the original plan . ”

“If you go around doing those three dungeons, you’d waste more time traveling between them if they’re far apart . And if a hidden boss does appear in one of them, you’ll only focus on that specific dungeon . ”

“I didn’t think ahead that far . ”

As expected, I was glad that I came here for assistance .

With everyone offering different perspectives, we were able to come up with a better solution than the one I was able to come up with alone .

Ho Yeong continued .

“The locations are in Won-ju of Gangwon-do . Have you been there before?”

“No, I haven’t . ”

“It would be impossible for you to get there with Warp then . Then I shall have my people escort you there . ”

“That’s ok . I have someone who’s idle at home… . ”

“No, no! We shall escort you!”

“Ok… . . Then I’ll be counting on you . ”

“Yes!”

“Ho ho ho . That man you spoke of would probably be sad hearing you say that about him . Out of us all, I think Jong Ho is working the hardest . ”

“Whew… . . He should be thankful that I don’t treat him like a NEET . ”

“Hohoho . ”

“Ah, since we’re on the topic of Jong Ho hyung… . . ”

“What did you have in mind… . . ”

I let the silence settle for a bit before speaking .

This was a decision I didn’t make lightly .

That’s why I wanted to hear their opinions .

I spoke up with caution .

“You know… the gate that connects our realm to the demonic realm?”

“Yes . Isn’t there roughly 77 days left? Time is of the essence… . . ”

“I’m going to enter it . ”

“Yes, I expected as much . Why would anyone enter there willingly… . . Huh?”

“What did you just say?”

“I’m planning to go through the portal . ”

“What do you mean! Why all of the sudden… . . We’re not even sure of a method in order for you to return though?”

“……”

“I found a way . It’s simpler than I originally thought it’d be . ”

“…… . ”

“I just need to become the demon king . ”

“…… . . ”

“…… . . ”

“…… . ”

The three of them stared at me blankly .

They had a dumbfounded expression on their faces as if they didn’t know what to say next .

They must be shocked enough that I said that I’ll be going through the portal .

But now they heard me say that I’ll become a demon king .

I couldn’t help but smile at their bewildered expressions .

However, they continued to stare at me blankly in confusion .

They stayed that way until I spoke up again the break the silence .

“It’s the information I got from Karin . I just have to obtain the highest ranking position in the demonic realm . ”

“……”

“Mr . Min-Cheol, even if that’s true… . ”

“I cannot let the situation become more chaotic, and this world has suffered enough damage . ”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes . 90% sure . ”

“Hmm… . . Still, to think that you’ll be going to the demonic realm on your own… . . It doesn’t right with this old man . ”

“I agree with him, Mr . Min-Cheol . ”

“Of course . I shall gather the best in each class . It shouldn’t take that long . ”

“No . We also have to consider the possibility that the demonic realm may invade again . That’s why we cannot split our forces . ”

“Then who will go with you?”

“Someone who’s idle at home . ”

****

Jong Ho was clearing the level 34 dungeon with ease, even without using any defensive skills .

Since he knew the skill’s destructive force and area of impact, he kept sufficient distance between him and his target while marching forward casting down transcended Meteors towards the distance .

The only time he moved his body was to loot the stones and drops from the mobs .

His level had already surpassed Min-Cheol’s .

Only a year ago, his level was in the mid 60s .

Now, he was nearing level 420 . On top of that, he was nearing 10,000 points worth of stats on his armor .

It was possible because he repeatedly entered the dungeons to the point where his ID was getting worn from use .

Of course, this was only possible because of the Balrock’s Treasure Storage ring .

If there’s one thing that he lacked, it was the level of his warrior class skills .

Since he only spam casted magic, his skill level was similar to that of warriors at the level ranges of 200 to 250s .

Jong Ho invested all the stats he gained on stamina, since he would be using Min-Cheol’s ring to attack .

He split apart his daily 12 hours of hunting into hunting ghouls for stats and hunting to level up in the higher level dungeons .

After exiting the dungeons for the day, Jong Ho spoke to himself while looking at the moon that was at its zenith .

“Time just flies by, huh . But thanks to hunting using this ring, I don’t feel tired at all… . Feels rather tedious . But why does my ear itch so much today?”